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A White Horse
"A White Horse" is the thirteenth episode of the current Don Trek series and is an original episode not based on any other previous'' Don Trek'' writing, though inspired by already written future events. It's the last of a trilogy of stories that closes out season one of'' Don Trek.'' Previous episode: Capt. Mike Next episode: Don Trek: Season Two: That's No Starbase, That's A Moon! While exploring a strange new world the crew of the USS Bonneville discover things are not as they seem and discover a new civilization that is under the spell of an old foe. The Story Act One The USS Bonneville flew through space, on its way to parts some known, little known, and unknown to the United Federation of Planets, under the command of Capt. Don. The captain and his crew had been though many things since the USS Bonneville first departed Earth’s solar system. They discovered new worlds, helped known worlds, made new friends, faced old enemies, and confronted new ones. Almost a full year from launching on their five year mission many of them felt like they had done it all and wondered what more there could possibly to discover. The senior officers like Capt. Don, Cmdr. Mike, Lt. Solok and Lt. Jenna, who had been on one or more five year missions, knew that the universe would present them with seemingly infinite opportunities to have their minds blown. While almost every member of the USS Bonneville’s crew were looking forward with optimism there were things waiting for them that they thought they’d left in the past. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Capt. Don was one of the few crew members that grew more and more concerned about the near future each day. He knew that there were too many lose ends from the last year and if they didn’t get a chance to confront them soon they would be joined with the brand new challenges that the future held. “We are approaching a system with seven planets orbiting its star,” reported Lt. Solok, “I’m launching a long range probe to investigate.” “Let me know what comes of it,” ordered Capt. Don, “you have the con.” Capt. Don left the bridge and headed toward the recreation room, a room where he spent an amount of time that was still undeterminable around a month or so ago. When he arrived he saw Lt. Jenna and her crew still analyzing every nook and cranny of the place. “You’re still finding new temporal traces?” asked Capt. Don. “They seem endless captain,” answered Lt. Jenna, “in a way it’s good, I’ve started developing a theory that could one day lead to more realistic holographic projections.” After spending a little time pretending to know what the hell Lt. Jenna’s team was talking about he headed to the mess. A couple crew members were about to head to the bar for a few drinks but the captain still had duties that required sobriety so he promised to join them another time. “Looks like it’s just you and I Capt. Don,” announced Mr. Bourbon. “Looks that way old friend,” agreed Capt. Don, “it’s been one hell of a first year aint it Bourbon?” “Well you know what they say Don, ‘you aint had a good year till you’ve participated in an orgy you can't tell anyone about.’ Right, someone says that right?” Capt. Don laughed and answered, “I’m sure someone somewhere says that!” “Capt. Don please report to the bridge,” requested the voice of Ensign Becca. “Something big going on?” asked Mr. Bourbon. “Nah it’s just a returning probe.” Capt. Don made his way to the bridge with an extra spring in his step, because if there wasn’t an explorable planet in the coming system then they wouldn’t bother calling. “We have a rather colorful class M planet,” reported Lt. Solok, “and there are no humanoid life signs just plants and animals, and it is rich in rare minerals.” “Great!” exclaimed Capt. Don, “let’s go exploring!” Act Two “Captain’s log stardate 9508.02: We’ve beamed down to the fourth planet orbiting a yellow star, much like our own, and it’s very colorful and has a rich animal population. The vast majority of animals that we’ve seen since beaming down have been equestrienne in nature and there are many varieties and colors. The most amazing to me have been the Pegasus verity.” Lt. Solok spent his time developing a series of theories to explain the hive nature of the herd of ponies that the away team had been observing since they beamed down. “I find it fascinating that many, if not all, of the ponies seem to walk in that direction, pause, and then turn around. They then take care of their needs, mingle amongst themselves, and then repeat said action,” Lt. Solok vocalized to Capt. Don. “I suppose there’s no way for us to really determine if it’s us that is causing this?” asked Capt. Don. “I doubt that greatly captain, as I observed this behavior via the probe before we even entered the system.” “What lies beyond the area where they are stopping to turn around?” asked Capt. Don. Lt. Solok answered, “more of this, the whole planet is more of this.” “Well then let’s you and I take a walk down there and check it out,” suggested Capt. Don as he walked toward the area following the colorful ponies as they made their trek. “As you can see captain,” offered Lt. Solok, “they stare off into the valley and then turn around. It may be perfectly normal for them but I find it curious.” Capt. Don asked, “have any of us been over there?” “No.” Capt. Don walked to where one of the ponies were staring off at the valley beyond and patted it on the head before stepping over the invisible line none of them would cross. Act Three “Captain’s log supplemental: This world, this world is clearly fitting of the label ‘more than meets the eye.’ Hidden past an invisible barrier there was an entire village, a village just as colorful as the rest of the planet. Furthermore there’s another twist, this village is not and seems to have never been populated by humanoids. No, this village, this planet… it’s a planet of ponies!” “Capt. Don the security team is ready,” reported Ensign Bobby, “and we’re ready to enter the village when you are.” “Good, every indicator tells us this village is empty,” Capt. Don told the security team, “but we need to be ready just in case. Let’s move out.” As the security team, lead by Capt. Don, explored the city it was clear that life there came to a standstill. These weren’t any ponies these were sentient ponies living in freedom, at least up till recently. “I’d like to know more about this place, about where the seat of their government is, but I can’t make out a thing, we need a linguist,” said Capt. Don to Ensign Bobby. He pulled out his communicator and called Ensign Becca on the USS Bonneville, “Ensign Becca we’re going to need you to work this out for us, between you and the universal translator we should get the information we need.” Lt. Solok had been working on trying to discover the source of the barrier that kept the ponies out but not the members of the away team. “Capt. Don, I find it odd that they have such an advanced society yet they have made no obvious attempt to communicate with us,” Solok then continued, “I am not one to guess but I feel it is a logical enough assertion that whatever is keeping them from their homes may also be keeping them from trying to speak to us.” Capt. Don agreed with Lt. Solok and waited to hear from Ensign Becca who was consumed with the task of learning a language from scratch. “Why isn’t Lt. Jenna down here?” asked Capt. Don. “You didn’t include her on the away team roster,” answered Lt. Solok. “I wonder why?” Ensign Becca approached and reported, “I don’t have the language mastered sir but I can tell you that the seat of government is a placed called Canterlot and I can take you there.” Capt. Don, Lt. Emily, and Ensign Bobby’s security detail started on their voyage to Canterlot as the greater part of the day was over and the sun started to sink into the horizon. It was just before twilight when they reached the city and its castle. The place was deserted, just like the other village, and right before they crossed into the city they noticed ponies doing the same thing they’d observed the other ponies doing; walking up to the town line and then walking back. “I’ve got a feeling about this Ensign Bobby, you and the rest of your team need to be ready for anything.” “Is it a bad feeling Capt. Don,” Bobby asked, “or is just a feeling in general?” “It’s an incomplete feeling,” Capt. Don explained, “like I know but don’t know at the same time. It’s like I’ve been here before, but none of us have. We are the first Starfleet vessel to ever enter this system.” His tricorder beeped and he read the display reporting, “okay security team, Ensign Emily, I’ve got three life sign readings all of a sudden. Be ready!” Right then the room filled with a bright light. Act Four Right there before Capt. Don stood three ponies or horses maybe as they were bigger than the others, one a dark blue in color, another in pitch black, and a third that was white. “The white horse,” said Capt. Don out loud. The white one stood in front and she appeared to speak and in a language all of the away team could understand. “I am Princess Celestia and you are trespassing on my land,” she declared, “leave now or I will impression you like I have these two mischief makers who have brought this confusion upon my world.” “So you’re the leader here,” asked Capt. Don, “you’re not the cause of the abandoned cities?” “I am the leader of this planet, planet of ponies!” Then as if it were a great struggle the pitch black pony spoke and said, “NO! SHE IS NOT THE LEADER OF THIS WORLD; I AM, WITH MY SISTER PRINCESS LUNA!” Then her shout became a whipsper and she continued, “I’m Princess Joy and if this world is ever to live in joy again then you must stop the imposter Celestia!” Capt. Don was consumed in a mental fog, one he could not explain. “Capt. Don what do we do?” asked Ensign Bobby. “I don’t know,” answered Don, “I want to believe Princess Joy but I can’t.” Ensign Becca then spoke saying, “Capt. Don, the white pony and the dark blue pony have markings on them that are consistent with the language and culture that I studied today, and the black pony’s markings are not.” Right then lighting stretched out seemingly from the white pony and zapped Ensign Becca on the chest and in a moments time Capt. Don could see clearly and he knew what was going on. Quickly the captain set his phaser from stun to kill and raised it to take aim at the black pony. “NO! IT’S THE WHITE HORSE; THE WHITE HORSE IS YOUR ENEMY!” With a pull of the trigger a deadly phaser beam shot forth and hit the black pony and she fell to the ground but did not vaporize. Capt. Don walked past the other two ponies, which were now free, and knelt beside the black one who morphed into the familiar form a Maleficent. “Your plan, your plan to get me to fear the white horse was so you could rule this planet,” asked Capt. Don, “how long have you been working to rule this planet and where do the Klingons fit in?” As Maleficent lay on the ground doing her best to fight the vaporizing effects of a phaser she answered, “the Klingons know nothing of this world, I fled here after your ship destroyed the SS Shoreleave. The white horse has nothing to do with this world either, that does have something to do with the Klingons. I used it to try to fool you into killing Princess Celestia.” “Why?” “Because if you’d have killed her thinking she was the white horse that you were warned about my power would have been solidified in this world and by morning all of the sentient life here would have been changed into plain animal life and I would have had this world and the power it holds all to myself!” answered the dying Maleficent. “Well, you failed,” commented Capt. Don in a stone cold monotone voice. Maleficent could hold on no longer and succumbed to the vaporization. Epilogue “Captain’s log stardate 9508.04: Two days into our mission here on the planet we now know to be called Equestria we are staying with the blessings of its joint rulers Princesses Celestia and Luna. This is an unique world, one where there are sentient equestrienne life forms unlike any we have ever encountered. The citizens of this world are returning to their normal lives due to our actions. Slowly we are learning the language and their customs and Ensign Becca should have the universal translators programed so that we may all communicate more clearly with this world’s population. I look forward to learning all I can about this planet that seems to be, if nothing else, enchanted. What a year! Log out.” Background Information